Devices are known which may be used to facilitate implantation of an electrode on an organ or fetus within a living body. In such devices, one example of which is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,827,428 to Hon et al. for "Bipolar Electrode Structure for Monitoring Fetal Heartbeat and the Like," the electrode structure is placed in abutment with the end of a driver tube, the electrode wires being passed through and clamped to the opposite end of the tube. The tube is inserted through an orifice in the body, sometimes aided by a guide tube as in Hon. After the electrode has been attached to the organ or fetus, the wire holding clamp is released permitting the driver tube to be withdrawn leaving the electrode in place with the electrode wires extending therefrom through the body orifice for connection to an electrical device.
Electrode wire clamps are known wherein the external end of the wire is held in fixed axial relationship to the driver tube by wrapping the wire about the clamp and/or forcing the wire through a narrow groove or slot where it is held in place. Such clamps are disadvantageous in that the tolerances associated with the clamps and with the wire and insulation thicknesses may cause the wires to be held so loosely as to permit axial movement relative to the driver tube, or too firmly to "give" under extreme tension which, when inadvertently applied, can rip the electrode from the organ or fetus thereby causing injury to it.
Another type of clamp is known wherein the wires are passed through an opening in the clamp, the opening being covered by a resiliently mounted apertured member which is pivoted to temporarily position the aperture of the member in axial alignment with the opening as the wires are passed through the clamp. When released, this member again covers the opening and pinches the wires to hold them within the driver tube, the aperture being forced out of alignment with the opening. Although this type of clamp is more likely to give when the wires are pulled hard enough to exert potentially injurious tension, it suffers from two principal disadvantages. First, it must be constructed from several components which, after formation, must be assembled. This adds to the expense of the device. Furthermore, should the clamp be grasped so as to prevent movement of the resilient member which holds the wires in place, the clamp will not release under pulling tension and thus is subject to the disadvantage of potential injury attributable to the groove and notch type devices herebefore described.